Borrowed Meanings

Borrowed Meanings

Borrowed Meanings

By:

Han Bo, trans. from the Chinese by Eleanor Goodman

These poems are characteristic of one mode of Han Bo’s writing. He has many modes, just as in life he plays many roles: scriptwriter and theatrical director, visual artist, curator, magazine and travel writer, and of course, accomplished poet. Like his longer narrative poems, in effect although not in technique, these short verses drop the reader into perfectly contained miniature worlds, complete with characters and scenes, rich details that engage all of the senses, and surprising juxtapositions that in their odd unity tease at the edges of rationality. All the reader has to do is let go and fall in.